So-so Social Media

Social media... A web based launch pad thrusting creatives (like myself) straight through the stars and into the orbit of success, right? Hmm well the size of my Facebook fan base tells me otherwise. But you know what they say; It's not the size of your fan base that matters but how you use it... right?... er... uh anyway...  Lately I've read tons of articles online and in magazines about how everyone should be using social media to promote their craft. The writers are far too eager to point out all of the ways you can achieve greater success through social media. One thing I don't see very much of in these articles if any at all is actual real life success stories. These articles are chock-full of tips and tricks but no actual results. So this got me thinking.. I know.. here we go again....

 Since the dawn of myspace I've been creating profiles and fan pages on every social media website and art community that emerged, loading them up with examples of my work and the occasional witty status update. I believed that each post I made, each piece of art I shared was bringing me one step closer to world renown fame. This simply has not been the case. Has my artwork been exposed to hundreds maybe even thousands of people through social media that it wouldn't have otherwise? Yes, absolutely! Is that a good thing? Of course! But is it really worth investing as much time as I have? We're talking years of daily posts and uploads. Hours and hours of scrolling, liking, commenting and sharing. I believed that every interaction I had no matter how small or insignificant could be the one that set off the landslide of recognition that I had so desperately been seeking as an artist. I'm still waiting on that to happen.

 Now I'm not saying that could never happen... But how common is it really? Out of all the millions of people striving for acknowledgement of their craft on these sites how many have actually achieved this? My guess would be that the number is astronomically small. And if you take away all of the people who use gimmicks to attract attention, the number would be only a fraction of that even. Like Nolan Daniels who achieved social media infamy simply by posting a photo of himself holding a fake winning powerball ticket and encouraging Facebookers to share the photo. In turn he would choose one lucky person to give 1 million of his winnings to. His photo was ultimately shared over 2 million times! This event and others like it really prove my point. I mean sure I could have done the same thing if I had thought about it and yeah, 2 million shares surely wouldn't hurt... But how much of that attention would transfer onto my artwork? And how much of that would lead to genuine recognition? How helpful is 15 minutes of fame if it's not at least for what you want attention for? At this point I'm becoming less and less hopeful in regard to achieving internet fandom. It seems that the only real way to accomplish that is to do something outright ridiculous, crazy or even dishonest. None of these options tend to appeal to me.

So far it's beginning to seem like social media really isn't the best venue for creatives as myself to build recognition. Perhaps some simple math will either help us confirm or re-assess the topic. I've always been terrible at math and am not fond of it but when it comes to the cut and dry you really can't look anywhere else. So here we go. Myspace (founded in August of 2003) was probably the first social media site I created a profile on. I've also had or have profiles on Linkedin, Deviant art, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and many others not worth mentioning. Between all of the near daily posting, uploading, commenting, liking and sharing I have spent countless hours on these sites. Now honestly this is probably on the low side but for the sake of easy math let's say I averaged an hour of social media usage per day since August 2003. That's roughly 3,420 hours! That's a lot more artwork that I could have created with those hours! So now the question is; which would've benefited me more? I think it's safe to say at this point that I could have done a lot less social media networking the past ten years and perhaps be more recognized today as an artist simply because there would be more of my artwork out there.

Okay so that settles it! Stop promoting yourself on social media sites! Shut 'em all down! They're useless anyway! Right?? No, no, no, That's not what I'm saying. There's still some benefit to utilizing social media sites. But.... It is always better to simply do the work. Take a look at the profiles of the creatives who have already achieved the recognition that you are striving for. What do you see? 99 times out of 100 you won't see a person who built their career on social media but a person who did the work first. They are successful because of what they do outside of social media. Social media sites are only a tool they use to stay connected with the fans they already have and of course add a few more. With only few exceptions... like Justin Bieber... and we all know how much the world LOVES him... Really though, you will be surprised by how much more you benefit from just doing what you are passionate about than sitting at a computer telling people what you are passionate about. And guess what!.. You'll get even better at it! And that's just one more way to help you gain more recognition. Simply put, the best way to benefit from your talent is to keep doing it! Crazy thought right? But please don't go and put all of your faithful social media profiles to sleep. At the very least, they are still a great way to keep in touch with friends and family who live far away and yes you really should still showcase some of your work on them. There would be no point closing those doors completely. Just don't spend so much time on them. Don't rest your dreams on them. Instead maybe get back in touch with the original social networking site; Real life! Get out there and talk to people. Get to know them. Let them get to know you and who you are! And don't ever, ever forget how important it is to simply...

Do the work!